Reşit Yiğit YILANCIOĞLU, Mahmut Mustafa BARIŞ, Emin Evren ÖZCAN
Journal of Updates in Cardiovascular Medicine - 2026;14(1):24-32
Objectives: Atrial fibrillation (AF), a common cardiac arrhythmia with significant stroke risk, is expected to increase in prevalence with an ageing population. Cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a non-invasive imaging modality that provides detailed cardiac and extracardiac anatomical information, particularly relevant for preprocedural assessment of AF catheter ablation. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of extracardiac findings (ECFs) during CCTA performed prior to AF catheter ablation. Materials and Methods: This retrospective single-center study reviewed data from 163 patients with AF who underwent catheter ablation between January 2021 and January 2022. Among the 163 patients, 140 (85.88%) underwent preprocedural CCTA. ECFs were defined as newly detected findings necessitating follow-up, diagnostic workup, or therapeutic measures, excluding known abnormalities and clinically nonsignificant findings. Results: Out of the 140 patients who underwent CCTA, 50 patients (35.7%) had 52 incidental ECF. Pulmonary findings were the most common, including pulmonary nodules (>6 mm) in 20 patients (14.2%), pulmonary infiltrates in 8 patients (5.71%), and a pulmonary mass in 1 patient (0.71%). Other significant findings included aortic aneurysms in 3 patients (2.13%), enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes in 8 patients (5.71%), abdominal mass in 1 patient (0.71%), and unclear liver lesions in 5 patients (3.55%). Two incidental findings led to the postponement of the AF catheter ablation procedure. Conclusion: Pre-procedural CCTA serves as a valuable opportunistic screening tool, identifying significant ECF in over one-third of patients. These findings underscore the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration between cardiology and radiology to optimize comprehensive patient management in these workflows.
